Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-01-07
THE VICE OF LYING.


Inconvenience Caused by Assoclating with
Men Who Are Careless of Truth.
Shakespeare enumerates three varie-
ties oflies-the counter-check quarrel
some, the lie circumstantial and the lie
direct; and good Touchstone adds that
all these you may avoid but the lie
direct, and you may avoid that, too!
with an if These, however, are merely
one variety of lie. They are lies used
in alteration. They do not include the
members of the great family of lies
which constitute so large part of our
daily conversation and give so much
spice and variety.
When the says said that all men are
liars he Intended 10 refer to society in
a backward state of civilization-the
only society he knew. Lying has been
said to be the privilege of slaves, certain
1t is that the civilization of community
may be gauged by the pre-, alence Of
lying therein, and the breeding of an
Individual may be measured by his in
dnlgence in truth or falsehood. In saw
age nations every body lies. Among
our forefathers trial by battle was kept
up long after its absurdity was recoe-
nized, simply because it was found inn
possible to get witnesses to tell the
truth. AT the present day lying is conf
moner in small villages than in great
C ties, and far commoner among the un-
educated than among the cultured class.
A wholesale merchant rarely lies about
his goods. 1t would hurt his credit to
say that he got his Costa Rca coffee
from Java, or his Connecticut silk from
Lyons. In some country towns shop
keeper will not only lie about his goods
In order TO effect sale, but he will boast
OF the lie afterward, and his standing in
the community will not be impaired. |
The value of truth is only realized in |
societies which have reached a certain |
stage of refinement, and in the class in |
those societies in which experience and |
training have caught the folly of MS
statements.
If any man will take the trouble to
cnumerate his acquaintance he will be |
surprised to discover how easily he can
separate the liars from the truth-tellers.
A liar hardly ever deceives any one but
n stranger. His propensity is quickly
detected by those who know him, and |
from that time forth he is only believed
when he is fully corroborated or when
his statement is intrinsically probable.
There are lots OF people floating around
the world who labor under the incon-
yen!ence of never being believed when
they tell the truth, simply because they
have established reputation for living.
When they make statement the hearer
instantly does a mental equation in
which X stands for the unknown truth
and the speakers assertion figures as a
quantity which if reckoned up with
other known quantities may enable him
to work out the value OF X. Thus these
habitual lars are doubly inconvenient
and doubly deceptive.
II is easy enough to detect the school
boy liar; give him the rein and he will
boast himself into tangle of contradic-
tions. 1t is the full-grown man who
lies from inveterate habit; who takes
you aside privately and tells YOU that
he saw, with his own eyes, Brown vote
the Democratic ticket in 1880, and who.
when subsequently taxed with the false
hood, will take his God to witness that
he never said any thing Of the kind
that you are confoundng him with
'ome one else. This Is the fellow who
$ dangerous, and for whose benefit one
would like to see that Assatic law estab-
ishcd which punished theft with prison,
murder with mutilation, but lying with
ieath.
OF course. there must be some for
yiveness for white lies. When Mr..
Brooks meets Mr.. Snooks and accosts
llm-"How are you, my dear fellow?
do hope you are well"-when he
iocsn't care one straw whether Snooks
S well or i'll, alive or dead and when
Hrs. Box receives Mrs. Cox in her
lrawing-room, and clasping her hand
Ieclares. ''My dear creature, / am so
cry glad to sec you" when she knows
hat she doesn't want to see her at all,
nut wants to go up stairs where baby is
rying; judicious moralist will con.
ider the sin venial a sacrifice of NOR.
Ility to polite behavior. Alceste de-
lared that he could see no distinction
'etween the white lie which professed
Ielight in tho society of one who was
eally odious, and the black lie whicn
alsely accused an innocent person Of
tealing spoons. But the code of tho
is not more popular now
han 1t was in the days of Moliere. A
ertain amount of lying is necessary to
ubricate society. When Robinson asks
IS in fierce, injured way, whether it is
rue that we said he was a little drunken
OF, 1t is best to assure him that he has
een misinformed and that you have
een misunderstood. For if you confess
he truth it will not cure Robinson OF
and it will certainly involve
ou both in a row.
Legislators have tried ever since the :
ays of Aaron and Moses to make peo.
le tell the truth by law. But the re-
nlts have not been commensurate with
no oxertions. Once in awhile man
oes to the penitontiary for perjury.
'nt il every perjurer were to be pun
'hcd, the population of the country
'ou'd prove too limited TO inflict the
enalty. The best guaranty for de-
line of and an increase in the number
truth-tellers is to be found in the ele-
alton of the tone of sooiety-not only
lie society of the drawing-room and tho ,
ub, but the society of the exchange,
le street and the political mceting.--
an francisco Chronicle.
- - -
A Reasonable Supposition.